It Takes Patience

Allow me to introduce our horse, Patience.  She's an approximately 8-year-old quarter horse mare, with some debate about whether she is a Paint (Sabino, specifically, with white splashes on her belly) or a chestnut. 



She's exactly 14.2 hands high, which makes her a big pony or a small horse.  She has two really distinctive marks:  a horse-head brand on her thigh and a unicorn-shaped white splash on her belly (I can't remember which sides, left or right, for either of these.)

She comes to us via Sis's old riding school from a horse farm in Vermont, where she lived outside on a mountain.  Now she's at a new barn, where she mainly lives outside in a paddock either by herself or with another mare.  She isn't so fond of male horses; she kicked one at the old barn who had bitten her (both were okay in the end.)  There is a "fan club" trio of male horses who watch her at the new barn, their heads swiveling in unison at the young mare; even the donkeys like watching her.  As Sis's old riding coach said, "You horse has a nice ass!" 

She is very patient in the aisle when she's being groomed and harnessed or unharnessed; we wonder if that's how she got her name.  She throws her head when the saddle goes on before a ride and yawns a few times when the bit comes out afterwards.  She has been feistier recently, perhaps because of the fan club, and even tossed Sis off for the first time on Saturday when she was startled by the truck of a neighbor of the farm.

Sis loves her completely (her yawns, her fluff, her scent, her soft nose, her wiggly lips, etc etc etc) and especially loves taking pictures of her derpy (silly or dopey) side.  And Mama and I are becoming horse lovers, too.  Mama is even thinking of riding.

How could we not love that face?

Changes

The beginning of school was long my new year beginning, not January.  When I was not in school, I still always liked the beginning of fall and feeling rejuvenated by the change in temperatures.  We're back to the new year being in September, with kids in the house.  And this year has seen many changes.

First, neither Bud nor I am taking piano anymore; he, because he lost interest, and me, because I couldn't justify the expense anymore.

Sis has also dropped speedskating.  Her foot is still a bit tender from when a 1000 lb horse stepped on it!  And I think she realized that she didn't like competing, which was the main point.

Mama has started playing the ukelele, a present from me on our 21st anniversary.  She's been strumming along to "I Lava You" from the Pixar short.  It's sweet--and she's gotten good fast.  She's dabbled at playing piano, guitar, and violin over the years, but this one has stuck.

And . . . and I've saved the biggest for last:  we bought a horse!  It's a convoluted story.  There was conflict and disruption at the barn, as the current owner was trying to retire and sell the place and it fell through with much acrimony.  As part of the proceedings, the prospective buyer bought several horses, including Sis's favorite horse, Patience.  And then, as the deal fell through, the new owner of the horses was going to take away Patience.  With all the chaos, and with the sadness of Murphy's departure so fresh, we bought the horse.  We worried that it sends the wrong message--that you can buy your way out of pain.  But we think it will be outweighed by all the hard work, discipline, sacrifice, persistence, etc.  Hopefully. 

We are boarding the horse--Patience, an 8-year-old chestnut mare (Quarterhorse, apparently), who is so named because she stands very still and patient in the aisle while being groomed and bridled--at the farm where Sis has been riding these last years.  They will care for the horse Monday through Saturday, with three meals a day, one blanket change, turn out, stall cleaning.  And on Sundays, we will do most of that.  But horses have to be ridden, so Sis will be there several days a week to ride her.  One of Sis's friends at the barn will be leasing her (and paying us) and so will ride her as well; she comes from a horsey family and will also help us.  Because Mama and I know nothing.  Sis knows a lot, but owning is different than leasing and it's a large learning curve.  We all went to visit Patience on Sunday and there was some concern that she might be a tad constipated--which can be very fatal in horses, quickly--but soon enough she wasn't.  I've never been so happy to see a pile of poo in my life!! 

Otherwise, Sis taught us all how to brush her--with three different brushes (curry brush, hard brush, and finishing brush)--and then took her for a walk.  Sis also washed her, tended her hooves, and picked the stall.  She's a very gentle, beautiful horse.  The farm owner said it would be the easiest horse purchase we'd ever make!  (Oh, goodness--the implications in that sentence!!)  Bud was a little apprehensive--horses are huge, even if Patience is barely a horse side-wise just a bit of a hand over a pony--but he'll settle in.  And Mama loves Patience.  She was talking to her and has been researching horses.  She'll even ride.  I'm not sure I will, but I like being around Patience nonetheless.

So that was this week's up-side.  The down-side was that I went to the ER on Monday night with severe abdominal pain yet again.  This time they didn't expect GI issues, but gynecological.  Perhaps a cyst or endometriosis.  It hurt like hell--almost like a partial obstruction--but no evidence of such; the ultrasounds didn't turn up anything.  I have a colonoscopy this week.  I think it's scar tissue from the four abdominal surgeries I've had; I can feel the baseball-sized tissue behind my belly button, but it isn't anything but scarring they've all told me (which if we remove would just, Catch-22, make more, apparently.)  We'll see.  I feel much better now, relieved it wasn't anything else.  But I would like more answers. 

All in all, it's a new beginning all around here.  I love fall.

Since I've Been Gone

Since I've been off the blog, we

• had a multi-day heat wave with temps in the mid 90Fs and heat index well into 100F;
• had a cold snap with lows right at 60F and highs not getting to 70F;
• spent a week in NJ--but not on the delightful shore--touring the midlands around Morristown, where Sis had speedskating camp (which she loved--and I think she improved) with not one but two Olympians and a multiple-Olympics national coach!  She made friends with a girl in CA and another in the area and one in NYC.

  

  What Sis did all week.

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Speedwell--building on left is where telegraph demonstrated

  
  
• toured the area, finding the kinds of things we like to do, including 



The "temple"



• Fosterfields:  a lovely 200+ acre farm started at the turn-of-the-20th-century by Clara Foster, who loved the colonial revival and built a lovely "Temple of Abiding Peace" cabin with an adjoining historically-inspired garden, which they've restored;
• historic Speedwell, an early 19th-century factory and iron works, where Samuel F.B. Morse introduced the first telegraph;



Gorgeous meadows at Duke Farms

• Duke Farms, the lavish estate of the late Doris Duke (whose father was behind the modern cigarette industry and then went into electric power!), which is now dedicated to environmental and sustainability issues.  I especially liked the remains of the basement of the grand house that was never built and the ruins of a burned barn that then housed a sculpture garden.







Just one view of one part of one room



Sculpture garden in barn ruins

• Northlandz train museum:  this is a wacky tourist trap with the largest model railroad in the world, but the craftsmanship and creativity is amazing--you actually wind around a whole mile looking at the detailed models.  



Navesink

• Navesink Twin Lights--yay, we got to see this very famous light, with its dual towers separated by an stone, armory-type building.  The lights are relatively short but are on a cliff, making it one of the highest lighthouses on the east coast.  Wonderful. 
• Sandy Hook Light (est. 1764) and Fort Hancock--out on the peninsula that is Gateway National Recreation Area (the other half of which is over by Mama's parents, across the harbor in NY).  The light is from 1764!!!!  And apparently the British held onto it despite an attack by Patriots during the Revolutionary War, the canon marks of which you could apparently see well into the 19th century.  Around the lighthouse is the remainder of a fort that was inhabited by 10,000 soldiers during WWII.  There is a 9-gun battery and also a proving ground for new weapons.  Most of that is in shambles, while some of the buildings have been converted to modern uses for the Coast Guard.  It was a very hazy day, but on a clear one you could have had a great view of the city.

  

  Sandy Hook light est 1764!!  

• Putt Putt!  Bud even made this great shot backwards between his legs!



Malaysian "ice cream"

• ate out at seafood (soft shell crab sandwich and crab cakes and corn and lobster bisque!), Vietnamese (spring rolls!), Malayasian (stand out food:  kachang "ice cream" with sweet corn, kidney beans, grass jelly, palm hearts, and red rose syrup on crushed ice!), and Korean (bimibop!) restaurants--mmm, mmm, good!
• spent some down-time in the hotel pools and watching "Ancient Aliens" and the new Clash of the Titans, with me crocheting on my first amigurumi critter (an owl-penguin thing that doesn't have eyes yet)
• came home exhausted and resumed kung fu, piano, and horses.

A Walk in the Woods

Last week, our Girl Scouts had a field trip to a local mountain, so-called in CT because it's a tall hill.  And I think, of all of us, I had the best time!  The tour focused on the natural history and human habitation of the area that could be read in the trees, reaching back to Native Americans and colonists and up through the agricultural use of the area, all of which I found fascinating--and I love rock walls!  I was proud that I made it through the hike, since parts of it had rocks and roots covered in leaves and unstable-for-me inclines and declines.

I'm becoming a much better hiker, a term I use loosely when applied to myself.  See, I don't think I realized what hiking was, seeing it as walking on paths through nature--not the arduous and sometimes treacherous climbing over rocks and trees and slopes that it is.  I first realized this in Vermont last weekend, when I was shocked to see what the Appalachian Trail looked like--not so much a path as a slightly-cleared thin line snaking through trees and rocks.  I'm now much more impressed with hikers than I ever was, particularly those who hike for months, sleeping on the way.

What we learned on our hike:

• cedars grow where once there were agricultural fields
• "wolf tree"--a tree with many protruding branches which was once probably the lone tree in a field.
• charcoal kiln--where farmers would gather and stack timber, cover it with leaves etc to burn it into charcoal for sale
• quarry--the holes and cuts of star drills, etc., were visible on cuts stones of an outcropping
• "three-sisters tree":  when trunks are cut during timbering and then another trunk grows out of the roots, then there are trees with 2-3 trunks, a sign of timbering
• how to roll a log--towards you to protect yourself from what might be lurking.  And always put it back!
• walnut, chestnut, hickory, and oak--local trees that produce edibles
• quartz--if you see a pile of quartz chips, it could indicate Native American tool-making.
• deer rub--an abrasion on a tree where deer mark their territories.
• rock walls--Second and third-generation European settlers (around mid-18th century) found that erosion caused by tree cutting and agriculture started to reveal all the boulders below the soil.  It was a curse on farmers!  They tried to clear fields, piling rocks as the iconic New England rock wall (most dating to late 18th and then 19th centuries), but agriculture in Connecticut ceased for the most part by the beginning of the 20th century, being too difficult and not profitable enough (hence the switch to manufacturing in much of the Northeast, as well as the move of settlers to better farmlands in Ohio, etc.)  In fact, the state is more forested now than since the settlers arrived; most trees are under 100 years old.  I love those rock walls and have been reading a history of them.

Between the hikes in Vermont and this hike, I'm of a mind to do more nature walks--as long as they are very easy access!

Rock walls

Wolf Tree to the right of center

More walls

Quarry holes

Fall Fun: I Love VT

A quick list of free associations and memories of my first foray into Vermont:

• a beautiful welcome center with homemade baked goods to raise money for a food pantry--oh, the cider doughnuts and blueberry cobbler!
• mountains, mountains, and more mountains
• foliage--the mix of greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and deep red-purple always make me want to quilt
• Vermont Country Store--I never knew it was real, thought it was just a catalog company for years.  But it's a big, real, quirky, nostalgic tourist draw (not quite a trap because the goods are mostly quality.)  Got a Shoot the Moon toy for the kids.  
• Bryant House Restaurant--an old soda fountain, Johnnycakes that looked like corn muffins, Sis said they were the best fries ever
• Maple Creemee--it's a maple soft serve with some chew, kinda like frozen custard
• Mt Equinox--oh, my gosh, I went up a mountain.  Sure, we were in a car, but I didn't panic.  And I even sat sorta near the edge, contemplating time, life, and beauty.  Beautiful views, including a hawk soaring below us.  3,848 feet high.  The scent of balsam.
• Inn at Long Trail--Lincoln logs come to life, with an Irish twist.  
• Pop hiked Deer Leap Trail before we arrived, all the way to the ledge--scary!
• Pop made the kids western juniper walking sticks! (And we only sword-played with them once.)
• Quechee Gorge--we hiked about a mile, up and down beside the deep gorge.  I was impressed with myself (again.)  Thanks to Pop's loaner walking stick, I didn't eat dirt or sprain anything when I tripped on a rock.
• VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Studies)--raptors, including Snowy Owl!  Also Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Kestrels, Peregrine, Red Tail Hawk, Broad wing Hawk, Ferruginuous hawk, Great Grey Owl, Barred Owl,  Great Horned Owl, small Eastern Screech Owls, and two beak-locked ravens. Nice rehab center and tour of the enclosures.
• Worthy Kitchen--introduced Gommie and Pop to poutine!
• Sugarbush Farms--maple, cheese, and condiments tastings!  Mmmmmmmmm.   Sis loved the huge horses and the bunny
• KING ARTHUR FLOUR--Bake for Good Month and tasty wheat bread, Sis got some mixes, just delightful, except they were out of the 13" Pullman Loaf pan I wanted and I never got through to order from customer service (we got there late in the day so there weren't many choices in the bakery, sad to say, but the chocolate chip cookies were good and the chai latte was excellent.)
• Checkers, chess, pinball-like baseball game, more chess, more checkers--loved the game room at the Inn
• meals at the restaurant--loved the Irish brown soda bread with raisins, Guinness stew, and the pancakes in the morning.  Sis liked the hot chocolate.
• Maple syrup, creemee, ice cream, hard candies, lollipop, candle, bacon, fudge, butter . . . . 
• live Irish music--I think my Aunt Sis would have loved this place (and its rustic charm)
• beautiful morning sunrise--Bud very thoughtful ("Can you imagine living like this?  With the mountains and sunrise everyday??")
• that lovely Vermont lake (Kent pond?) surrounded by mountains and foliage and dramatic clouds
• Thundering Brook falls--an accessible hike to the waterfall and more reflections on science and geological time by Bud, plus a few steps on the Appalachian Trail
• We see a Bald Eagle in a tree by the road!
• Billings Farm Museum--new calf, huge draft horses, sheep, maple and pumpkin and caramel apple ice creams, a farm house with modern conveniences and a dairy.  Bud square dances with Gommie.
• Lunchtime sandwiches from Woodstock Market, which we eat back in the Inn
• I think I'd like Woodstock, not sure about Manchester, for our next visit
• three covered bridges in the area, though I don't know what their names are.  We drove across a red one to get to Sugarbush.
• Mama goes to VINS photography class--she got great pics!--and Vermont Flannel Store
• I get the restaurant's soda bread recipe!
• Oregon Trail game with everyone (Mama died by snake bite, Bud and I by dysentry, Gommie because she didn't have a coat, and Sis by typhoid fever.  Pop lived, even though he kept breaking the wagon.)
• We don't watch the debate.
• chilly night near freezing, felt good
• more hiking on Long Trail/AT for Gommie, Pop and kids, on the bit across from the inn
• how many games of chess and checkers did the kids play with the grandfolks?  It was a highlight.  Pop said it was no-holds-barred--and he did manage to beat them a few times.  I lost a lot.
• another beautiful Vermont lake (Echo Lake), glittering and clear
• a chainsaw art festival!  We got some owls
• and lunch nibbles from the other Vermont Country Store on our way home--cheeses, Vermont common crackers, summer sausage, and maple nuggets (a whole lot like Buc-ee nuggets!)

What a wonderful weekend!

View from Mt Equinox

A tree at VCS

Inside the Inn at Long Trail

See, Lincoln Logs

Thundering Brook Fals

On Thundering Brook Falls Trail

More of the accessible trail

A lovely lake--Kent Pond, we think

Billings Farm Museum

Quechee Gorge

Echo Lake

Chainsaw art

Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share: Looking Back and Forward

It's been four years since our big CSA heyday, in 2009 and 2010, before my back injury.  And, while we aren't returning to that farm (which was wonderful but is almost an hour round-trip), we are returning to a weekly CSA box.  This time, through an aggregator of local farms, so that we get not only fruits and vegetables but also eggs, meat, and a weekly cheese.  It's going to be glorious!  And we are so excited to play with our CSA share again.

And so I looked back over those two years of CSA posts, always titled "Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share" with the label "CSA."  The first thing that struck me is how limited my recipe repertoire was compared to what we got in the box--no mention of how I prepared or ate so many items, such as kohlrabi, dandelion greens, radishes, beets.  Sure, I didn't post about tomatoes, because I gave them all away, and I didn't need to post about potatoes or green beans or garlic or onions because those are very familiar. Instead, I wrote a lot about greens, from kale to escarole to collards.  Lots of squashes, too.

Here are some of those posts, in alphabetical order:

Bok choi
Collards
Corn
Eggplant
Escarole (and here, though it can be almost any green; also here)
Garlic Scapes (with other recipes for kale and bell peppers; also here)
Kale (here, though it says eggplant, and here and here for soup and here for stir fry)

Spaghetti Squash

Zucchini and summer squash (also here cookies and here for joke and here for even more recipes)

Sis's Vegetable Soup

I also wrote about the lessons we learned, our challenges, and even a sample menu or two.  I even wrote a love letter to our farm.  And in case readers didn't have a CSA, I wrote up some farmer's market tips.

Reading all of this has me rearing to go in a few weeks.  I've relocated all of my old CSA-inspired vegetable cookbooks--Greens, Glorious Greens, From the Kitchen Garden,  More from the Kitchen Garden,  Vegetables Every day,  Farmer John's Cookbook,  Classic Zucchini Cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, The Roasted Vegetable, From Asparagus to Zucchini (plus my vegetarian cookbook collection, from Bloodroot to Claire's Corner Copia and Mollie Katzen)--and pulled out my special Tupperware produce boxes.

And we've even forewarned the kiddos!  (Who didn't exactly groan . . . but they don't remember the last CSA either.)

So, stay tuned for "Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share" part three.

Fabulous Field Trip!

Today, I was a chaperone on the children's first school field trip to a local historic farm.

And after my experiences a week or so ago with poorly behaved teachers and chaperones on my own historic house tour--the teacher talked through the whole tour, not noticing when her kids misbehaved and not stopping when I privately requested she do so (besides that, we've had chaperones talk and text on their phones, teachers and chaperones abandon their classes and wander off, and more)--I wanted to be a model chaperone.  And I think I was--helped the kids follow instructions, kept them all together, and never distracted from the docents.  Though, perhaps, I spoke up a couple of times enthusiastically--"oooh, kids, you won't get to touch a 200 year-old loom again!" or "wow, just imagine cooking on that stove!"  But I didn't dominate or ask too many questions (only  one or two, on the side) and I never answered them.  (Yes, I wanted to.  But I didn't find any fault with any of the tour.)

We had a wonderful time!  The kids learned about blacksmiths and "jobbing", getting to try their hands with "frog-lip" tongs and "duck-billed" tongs.  They planted green bean seeds in containers to take home.  They fed sheep and chickens.  They helped weave a floor rug with fabric scraps on the aforementioned loom.  They made and ate cornmeal pancakes, after looking at an old wood-burning stove, and got to touch ice in a real icebox.  They carded and then spun by hand yarn from the sheep, tying it into a bracelet to take home.  It really was a fabulous tour--well-paced, well-structured, well-timed, with a diversity of information and hands-on activities with enthusiastic and engaged docents.  As a fellow museum educator, I was impressed; as a mom, I was grateful.  Because I know how much effort went into the tour.

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Cornmeal Pancakes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground cornmeal
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted shortening or vegetable oil
1 egg, well beaten

Add together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Then mix in boiling water.  Stir milk, shortening, and egg into batter.

Drop large tablespoonful onto a hot, well-greased frying pan or griddle.  Turn the heat down and cook the cakes until they are brown (and begin to bubble.)  Then flip them over and brown on the other side.  Eat and enjoy!